Becoming Her Again
by Breathlessly Wicked
Summary: When Shay's life is threatened by a Smokie, Tally goes on a wild search to find the boy, but what she finds is much better than the New Smoke or the boy. But what happens when Tallys pure hatred get in the way and she herself is kidnapped?
1. Big 'Boom'

Hey people! I know not a lot of people read Uglies but I love it so. . . Here you go. Just to let you know this story is twisted and will induce sad-making thoughts!

Siy Rowling?

(Chapter One) _=_

**(Tally P.O.V)**

My thoughts were Icy and I was on edge. Left, right, left right. My hover board was being random again. I could barley control it even with my belly ring and grippy soled shoes.

"Stay icy Tally-wa." Shay murmured through the skintenna link. Her familiar voice soothed me slightly. We were only on watch. We didn't really expect to find the New Smoke or anything. Maybe an Ugly or two trying to spark a safety firework like back in the old days. Before us Cutters came around. But something in the back of my newly ice affined brain told me that tonight was not going to go well.

It had been three or four months since I had become a Cutter, but everything still felt like I was seeing for the first time.

"I am." I snapped in a whisper.

"Do you have your knife Tally-wa?" Shay asked. I scoffed, what a stupid question, of cores I had my knife, what respectable Cutter didn't bring something to keep themselves icy? I fondled my knife that Shay had specially given me the first week I had become a Cutter.

"What do you think Shay-la?" I scowled.

"Stop being random. We have a job Tally-wa. And I do not intended for you to annoy the ice out of me before we even get to the ruins." Shay hissed. I thought for a second before sighing heavily.

"Sorry Shay-la. I'm just on edge today, you know what I mean?" I asked. Shay sighed sympathetically.

"I do Tally-wa. But You can take a cut if you wan. No one's icy twenty four seven you know." Shay scolded me. I only grunted and slowed my board so that I was at a random pace.

"Go ahead, I'll catch up." I whispered through the link. I saw Shay nod from a few hundred feet away and then she was off towards the Rusty Ruins. Taking in a huge breath, I slipped my knife from a pocket in my sneak suit and then I slid up the sleeve, then, in one abrupt movement a feeling of pain mixed with iciness cause me to sigh in pleaser.

I was icy again. I was able to see everything clear. And by everything, I mean everything. I was able to see why Dr. Cable sent me to the Smoke the first time. I was able to see why the New Smoke needed to be destroyed. I was able to see why Peris was frightened of leaving his pretty home. I was even able to see how Shay-la had tried to guide me to happiness more than once but my self centeredness got in the way of both of our happiness's. I was a monster and no one had deserved that kind of treatment. But I wasn't guilty or sad. I was icy about it. Only acknowledging it and carrying on the task at hand, follow Shay and get back to camp.

We were only on patrol, we didn't really expect to find the New Smoke or anything. But that was before it happened.

That was when the fun began. . .

One second I could hear Shay's shallow breathing, then the next, my skintenna feed was cut off from the rest.

"Boss?" I hissed. . . No answer.

"Boss?" I started to panic, my icyness seemed to have been swept away like a whisper in the wind.

There was no answer.

"Shay-la!" I almost whisper scream . . . No answer.

"Shay, this isn't damn, laugh-making anymore-" I was interrupted.

"Shay will only be the first. The other Cutters will be next, unless you give yourself up, Tally Youngblood." I gruff voice warned on the other end of a bad connection.

"Where is Shay?" I almost yelled.

"Shay will be falling off of the top of the tallest building in Rusty Ruins in exactly twelve seconds. Good luck." The fuzzy connection was severed and everything was quiet.

That didn't matter though. I was already speeding towards Shay's signal. Top of the tallest building. My icyness was just a thing of the past by then, and nothing mattered anymore. Nothing, that is, except for Shay. At that point I would have asked the Smokies for help if I had to.

But my skintenna was cut off from all other connections except for Shay's I was alone in this. Eleven seconds to go.

I reached the Rusty Ruins in record time. But I wasn't getting anywhere fast. I started to push my board faster, it was almost at max speed, but it still wasn't fast enough for me. I was angry, not just angry, furious. Why hadn't I kept up with Shay? Why couldn't I have just taken my pain like a Cutter and waited. I could have helped Shay, I could have ambushed that son of a bitch when I had the chance. I could've help Shay for once in stead of being an evil bitch. I could have helped the only person in the whole world who cared about me; I could have. But I didn't.

Ten seconds to go. I was still on the floor of the old city, I needed to get higher. I tried to pull up but my ungloved hand was sweating too much and it slipped several times before grabbing and holding onto the board. I pulled up and peaked over some of the taller buildings. I saw with my special eyes a dark form of the top of the tallest building. It had something in its arms.

I started to tizzy. Eight seconds and I was still kilometers away.

"Shay!" I threw off my face mask. Looking down with my infrared vision overlaying the real world. My hover board's lifting fans were close to a Smokie campfire. Pushing forward again, I felt Shay's name on my tongue. It wouldn't stop, I just kept rasping her name.

Six seconds. Tears brimming in my eyes I screamed Shays name again. My board was close to explosion but I didn't care.

"Shay! Shay!" My throat felt swollen with tears that would never shed. I started to sob. Shay. No. Not Shay anyone but Shay. I started to scream at the top of my lungs.

"Anything! Anyone but her! SHAY!" Tears, I was crying real tears. Shay would have called me weak, I was being weak. Anyone but Shay. I wouldn't let in happen. Not. Shay. No. One. Would. Hurt. My. Shay.

My hoard let out one last squeal before it dropped. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!

I jumped, My hands caught on a crumbling piece of iron. Five seconds to go. I still had five seconds. That was plenty of time. Some little icy part of my brain tried to tell me, but I ignored it, Shay's name still bubbling onto my lips. I climbed.

I would sometimes cut myself on a loose nail on accident but nothing could keep me icy at that point. I was too far gone. Not Shay. Please. I'd pray to any god at that point if it brought Shay to safety.

Three seconds to go. I started to run, I just ran and climbed and cut. Nothing could stop me. I didn't care if I was being random. I needed Shay, but at that moment she needed me more.

Two seconds. I was almost at the top, I was so close, so close. "Shay! Wake up! Shay!" I screamed, I heard a sickening chuckle, it reminded me of melted chocolate mixed with pure evil.

One. I didn't even have a second to spare as I pulled myself up my infrared told me something was close to explosion up here too, it was a hover boar, not just any hover board, Shay's over board. The figure that was once dark was clear to my special eyes now. It was a man, no, he wasn't even a man, he was a teenager. Probably almost twenty or nineteen. He had tan skin, a natural tan at that, I could tell because his face mask was down on his sneak suit. His hair was sticking out though, it was black-ish brown and dishelmed his eyes were green, a kind of icy piercing green. It was obvious that he wasn't a pretty but he looked as if he could have been. He was holding Shay by the hair, and elbow how on god green earth he had immobilized her, I would never be sure.

"Time's up." He laughed, I leaped as he slowly let go of hays arm, and then her hair, she landed on her hover board. Weirdly he didn't take off, he just watched as I slidd across the remaining concrete and metal.

"Shay!" That was the last word I heard myself screech as she opened her eyes.

"Tally-w-" Just as I reached out for her, a thunderous explosion echoed throughout the canyon like town.

It wasn't like I had expected an explosion to sound like. It was just a little crunch and then the sky was a light with fire and blood. I waited what seemed like hours before I turned to look at the boy. He was smiling at me, waiting for my reaction I suppose. I looked back at the only thing I had of Shay's left. Her knife was under a tick layer of iron, I didn't matter that it was dirty, I still used it. I made another scar across my flash tattoos. That didn't work I still felt like everything was bubbled in. So I screamed. I screamed as hard as I could. I let out all of my pain and anger and frustration in that one moment.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the show." The voice again, except this time it wasn't muffled over a connection, it was loud and clear, and right in my ear.

"What are you?!" I screamed, I was waiting for answers, I wasn't sure why but, I didn't feel the need to kill him. . . Yet, "The Smokies sent you didn't they? I know they were getting desperate but why did they have to kill her?! Why?! Would you mid telling me?"

"I'm not from the Smoke Tally Youngblood. I'm from somewhere much more. . . Interesting. Somewhere you should be as you just proved." He smirked. My hand shot out, but he was just as fast, jumping back onto an already powered up hover board, "Seems I had no more bonding time Tally, but we will meet again. Soon hopefully."

With that he was gone. Just not there, I was alone again. This time, I wasn't in a dither. I was icy and ready. To do what. I wasn't exactly sure.

My last cut was still fresh so the icy part of my mind took over. I opened my skintenna frequency to all unknown stations.

"Whoever you are, you sure as hell better enjoy what time you have left because you don't have much of it. I will track you down and if it takes ma all of eternity, I will fid you, and kill you. If you think her death will go unpunished, you're damn wrong." My message was brief and deadly. I wouldn't let Shay's leaving the world unknown, I would fulfill what I had promised the boy. I would stay icy for Shay-la and I would avenge her death. With that I let myself fall onto the remaining concrete Shay's knife clutched to my chest held tightly in my hand.

_(Chapter End)_

_So, um. . . Do you like it? I need a review to continue pleas and thank you, I also except flames! J I'll update soon, (If I get a review that is) Tell me if you want it less dramatic or something I guess._

Siy Rowling?


	2. Icy Man

_I ok I just had a happy-making moment, one of my old reviewers for one of my Digimon stories just found my story -with her weird and magical ways- and reviewed! Ok so on with the dark and the dread. Don't worry, shay's death will not go un freak outed for long. _

_Siy Rowling?_

_(Chapter Two)_

My skintenna feed was still shot and I was positive whoever that boy was, he had gotten my message. Why? Well, let's just say, no one ambushed me on the way back to the lab.

Knowing my plan to an extent I skipped going back to camp. I went straight to the city, my hover board was basically trash barley holding my weight at that point, I had run it down and it was so close to breaking I could smell the smoke slowly raising from the lifting fans. I really didn't care. I truly didn't give a frick. Or that's what Shay would have said. (Yay BandGeek!)

"Tally? Why aren't Shay and your skintenna feeds showing up on city computers? Where is Shay?" Dr. Cable asked inquiringly, I brushed all of her bubble-headed questions off and turned around to face her, I knew my eyes and the set of my jaw showed that I seriously didn't want to be messed with, hopefully she would have just gotten the gist of things and let be what should be.

"I need a new hover board that's set on long distance, a pack that has all of the essentials for a couple of weeks and accesses to a computer that had all data bank information for at least twenty minutes." But with a load like that, it was just random for me to hope Cable would brush it off.

"Tally Youngblood, where in the hell is Shay and why aren't your skintenna feeds working?" Dr. Cable demanded, I snarled a little, I seriously wasn't in the mood for this, Shay was dead and her murderer was planning on playing this game again, with more of my fellow Cutters, I was damn mad.

While my brain went over possible scenarios when it came to me, my special mind _did _come in handy some times!

"The Smokies were listening in on our feeds so they could be a step a head and all that. Shay cut off only our connections because if she cut off all of the Cutters as well then the Smokies would get suspicious and jump ship. Shay got one of the Cutters to put an invisible digital tracker on the connection so that we have a route to follow. I need the computer so I can look up quick routes and such." I could tell she didn't believe a word of what I had just said so I decided to just hurry her and get out, "Shay" -I winced slightly at the name of my Shay used so casually on my own tongue- "Is waiting for me by the ruins so, I have to hurry."

"I'll send someone to get _two _packs and a new hover board." Dr Cable said, trying to get me to catch my own mistake, I had said one pack not two. Maybe I needed some help in the lying arts.

"Yeah that would be great." I said in a rushed voice, ignoring her stupid mistake catching attitude.

Cable just grunted realizing I wasn't going to give her any truth. The next time she spoke, the razors in her voice were known and sharp, almost sliding across my throat. "Use any computer you want. They all have a full data base." With that she left.

But I wasn't a complete random, I knew she could check every move I made on that computer, or more so floating digital screen that you typed with your eye screen, but either way. So I inserted a special. . . Chip, that allowed me to go around the tracker. Or in other words, I shoved my knife into the tracker and hoped for the best!

I looked up anyone who matched the boys description in our city, that was about the extent to screen thing could do anyway. I really wasn't sure why I was doing this, all I knew was I wanted a lead, I was not going to let Shay's murderer run around and do this again.

After a restless moment of waiting there was one match.

Erick Daye.

It was perfect even the dates matched up with his age! He was nineteen currently. But there was only one problem, after he became an official Ugly, -basically old enough to live in one of the dorms- he was proclaimed dead. It did not specify how he died though.

"Damn it!" I cursed smashing my had against the wall, I wasn't any closer than I had been to Shay's killer twenty minutes ago. I jerked my knife from the tracker, crap, it was completely broken, no going back.

I had to get out of there with at least one pack and a hover board. This wasn't going to be tricky whatsoever! I rolled my eyes at that. I was so surprised I wasn't ready to kill. But I knew why. I was letting it build up inside of me. But if I cut myself too much, I wouldn't be able to cut myself for a while. Blood loss and all that. But it was probably the fact that. None of this made sense, I felt. . . Empty, so to speak. I felt like someone had ripped me to shreds and laughed as I screamed in fear and agony. I wasn't Tally Youngblood anymore. I was just a shell of the girl who had been changed and her mind and heart had been played with one too many times.

But before I dwelled on that, I focused on getting out safely. Cable would noticed the fried equipment in a matter of seconds. Someone -or more some_thing_- was waiting for me outside, it was some floater tray thing that had all of the stuff on it. The tray was so overweighed that it was close to touching the ground. They seriously needed to get more powerful lifter trays.

I grabbed the pack, I could hear footsteps from down the long hallway, I just had to act calm, and if that didn't work, I would destroy things, and probably hurt a few specials. They were after all, just specials. I fastened the pack on my back and then got used to the extra weight as quickly as I could. Then, I grabbed the hover board and started on my way. The foot steps turned out to only be a couple of doctors coming to use the tech room. Wait the tech room. Crap! I started to run when they were out of ear shot.

An alarmed cry came from the tech room and I ran faster. The cameras caught every move I made as I sprinted down the hallway. After a second I could hear feet. Not just feet, but fast moving precise special feet, coming after me. Even my sneak suit could help me then. Since my frequency was still crap, I had to do without the other Cutters. It felt like a stab in the back to Shay. It felt just. . . _wrong_, that the world could not be crumbling in on itself now that Shat wasn't there to help me. She would have had some cleaver plan to ditch the specials behind me, get out before they basically boarded up the building and had it on high alarm, and then find whoever killed her. It would be as easy as that. But Shay was gone.

'Keep your arms in tighter to your chest and pump faster.' I almost screamed, it was a little voice in my head, almost like a skintenna feed but. . . I could just tell it wasn't. It sounded familiar like an old friend that I should know but didn't. Even with the fright, my special mind told me that was the right calculations and that I should listen to the voice.

So I did. And it worked, pumping my arms helped me go way faster, that was when I remembered something. I had something the specials ,close enough to pounce on me now, didn't. I had been a complete bubble head. Warming it up slightly, I threw my new hover board out in front of me and jumped on it. Taking off as fast as I could. The sounds of feet became more and more faint. I didn't need to worry about them anymore. The only thing I had to worry about now was the fact that in a matter of seconds the building would lock down and I would be caught.

'The roof you bubble head, maybe you should pull over for a cut or something, bejezuse.' The voice muttered, that was becoming a little annoying.

But I looked up, there were widow like things made out of smart matter just above me that lead to the outside. I was starting to feel claustrophobic anyway. It was time to leave.

The only problem with that, I didn't have a matter hammer. But I did have special nails, and a special icy brain. So I pulled up, my new climbing gloves allowing me to pull immediately. It seemed I was doing escape maneuvers every two seconds. Had it only been that long? Only a couple of hours since Shay was no longer breathing, since I had changed.

Once I reached the ceiling I found something that could have been the most bubble headed invention on the whole planet, an automatic lock that you only had to type in a password to, I was home free! Pulling the numbers from the top of my head, I typed in a seven number code that Cable used on various things. It worked.

The window thing automatically opened after jerking around for a bit.

The wind in my hair felt so good, I wanted to howl out like a Rusty animal David had once told me about. A worf or something like that.

'Wolf, Tally, wolf.' The voice, laughed, I growled at it. At that moment, I seemed more like an animal than a special or a human all together. I didn't want to, but I pulled my sneak suit mask over my face sharply and pushed the board only a little bit faster.

'This is the last one you'll get for a while.' The voice warned.

'_You're becoming kind of unhappy-making you know voice.' _The voice only chuckled and then faded out, I was alone, yet again.

My mind wandered to the fact that I might be able to get the other Cutters in on it. That was when I heard the hum of lifting fans, what the hell! I had only beat up a computer! It wasn't like they didn't have a million others! What, were they getting stingy or something?! Maybe they should start going Rusty and washing their clothes rather than recycling them over and over again, that might work! God I was pissed. But the hover car went right over me.

I wasn't even out of Cumblie Ville before the hover car made a loopy turn to the right. So either by some chance they hadn't seen me or spotted me on infrared or they weren't even after me. But what would cause something as big as Special Circumstances to get out in the middle of the night?

'Nothing you need to be concerned about.' The voice said bitterly. That was. . . New. An angry voice in my head, wow. Maybe I should've taken anger management, or another cut. As it seemed. It was weird. I was leaving the city. I was leaving and I might not ever come back. I was leaving the place that kept pulling me back, and then next time I was in it, I might be getting cremated. If they even found my body, that is. Whoever that Eric guy was, he rally didn't mind if he had to slit a few throats, that much I was sure of.

I bent my legs, I was starting to get smothered with the recycled air that partly filled the sky, I wanted so badly to get out of there. Shay had always said I was different from the other cutters but I had never seen how. But she said I had just a different aura around me. Something. . . Different-making. But she sounded more like she envied it than thought it was a bad thing. Like she wanted to be the main character in a Rusty book of her own.

'Nice try bubble head, but not quite. Maybe you should start to think less like a special and more like a Tally. That always seemed to work out before.' The voice laughed. It liked to laugh a lot didn't it? Well, I'd have to just ignore it, I guessed.

'Try and ignore me all you want, but you know what I'm saying is true.' The voice became dead serious, 'Think Tally, you thought you knew me, think! Come on, I know your not _that _stupid.'

'_Well maybe I can't remember. Some memories are lost over time, you know.' _I snorted, yes, I just snorted at the voice. . . In my head. I just laughed at a figment of my own imagination. Wow. Pulling over for a cut didn't seem so weak-labeling all of a sudden.

'**YOU CAN REMEMBER! YOU JUST DON'T **_**WANT **_**TO REMEMBER! IT WAS A WHEN YOU WERE ACTUALLY HAPPY! DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER THAT TALLY? **Or has becoming special really ruined everything?' The voice had caught me so off guard that, I slipped, I don't really remember how it happened, but I slipped. Off of the safety of my board and onto, flat, dry, listless land, after a few seconds of rolling, curled up in a ball so the impact wouldn't hurt as much, I let go of my pack so nothing would be seriously damaged. I felt the terrain change everything was moving so fast that my sneak suit wouldn't ripple any more with the differing landscape, but I knew what was coming next, water. Why? Well, first I started to feel my skin dampen and then my mask was completely covered in muddy sand like mush that I didn't dare open my eyes to see.

Less than two seconds later I felt the coolness and then I heard the 'slash' of my body being dragged under. Strangely the cold water did nothing to help my icyness. Inwardly sighing I started to unclench my muscles and swim up. But the problem was, my muscles wouldn't unclench, they stayed locked for a minute before finally undoing themselves somewhat. After that I was just sprawled out under a hard current. I couldn't even move my arms they were so numb.

So, in short, I was drowning. Happy birthday, Shay-la.


	3. Ugly Me

_Alrighty! I had to write this chapter in my note book first so it didn't turn out like the other chapter. . . You know crap. J So with no further ado I give you chapter three!_

_Siy Rowling?_

_(Chapter Three)_

Deeper and deeper I tumbled through the chilling waters of the river I had ridden over so many times before in Ugly, Pretty and Special days. Wow.

I hadn't reached the bottom yet, so that meant I couldn't be far from the top, or it was just a really deep river. With my luck, it was probably a really deep river. My new specialized lungs could keep me under for two minutes so I had some time to think my way out of it.

At some point when my muscles still wouldn't unbarricade themselves, I felt like screaming, but my mouth was busy trying to choke itself around my last air supply. I was almost at the bottom, I could tell, because the temperature in the lake river thing had dropped a couple of degrees. More like thirty. I was panicking, usually I had someone there with me to watch my back, but I was alone, it reminded me of the first time Peris and I went swimming.

_I had just become an Ugly so I was only twelve, Peris and I were at a local pool, most of the Uglies and Littlies went there but it was an unusually deserted summers day. _

"_Come on Squint, it's almost noon! You haven't even gotten in the water yet." Peris laughed, I stuck my tongue out at him and crossed my arms to cover myself a little more. The water was probably cold, and I only knew how to doggie paddle at the time. Peris ducked under the water as I dangled my feet in, wow, the water was cold. Really. Bloody. _

"_**COLD!" **__I screamed jumping up, but, just as I jumped up, I slashed some water behind me, yeah bad idea. I tried to run from the water -I suppose- and in doing that, I didn't notice the puddle of water that I had kicked behind me. Peris came up not even two feet behind where I had been; smiling a goofy smile. But I didn't notice. _

_As I tried to push off with my left foot to run faster, my right foot slid, the water creating a slippery surface. I screamed, Peris backed up and the 'bot that was motoring the pool became startled._

_With a huge 'slash' I fell in. I faintly heard a buzzing noise and a kind of muffled kicking. Then something hoisted my small and officially Ugly frame from the water. A lot of water had gone down my nose but none in my mouth._

"_Tally?! Tally! Oh no. Tally, you didn't have to come into the pool! I'm sorry." Little Peris cried. I blinked away recycled water from my eyes and looked up at the sky. I was lying face up on the deck of the pool, Peris was next to me, crying. And the 'bot's sirens where just finished screaming._

"_Peris, could you be quiet for a second, I've got a huge Ugly headache." That was what the Middle Pretties called migraines, Peris gasped and hugged me._

"_Never ever, ever do that again Squint!" He scolded, I nodded in agreement._

"_That was no hover boar ride, I can tell you that much." I mumbled, shooting some water out from between my teeth. That was the night Peris and I made the promise to be friends forever, the first time I had ever broken the rules._

After that little episode, Peris had demanded I learn how to save myself from downing. Whoa, flashbacks where helpful! I thought bitterly. I could feel my back touch the river floor, way far down. Not happy-making.

'_Voice, hello? Voice thing?! Help.' _Stupid voice, always showing up right when I didn't need it and is on lunch break or something when I'm in danger.

I could barley remember what Peris had taught me and my voice thing had ditched me, normally I would have thought that was a good sign, but drowning was becoming uncomfortable and I still had to find a way to unclench my muscles.

'Go limp.' Said the familiar voice. I almost gasped, but my primal instincts thought better than to open my mouth. 'Are you deaf? Go limp.' The voice ordered a second time.

'_Who are you?' _I found myself asking again. The voice scoffed, then it was clear. It was so stupid I hadn't seen it before. '_You're me aren't you? Before everything. When I was just Tally.'_

'Good job, yippee, you've figured it out, whatever. Now. . . Go. Limp.' I felt every muscle loosen one at a time, and then, I had some control back. I had to think calmly. 'Now open your eyes enough to see through the water, then-'

But I cut my Ugly voice off, '_I know what to do from there.' _I heard my Ugly voice sigh in either relief or exhaustion, could a voice in your head even _get _exhausted?!

I slowly opened my eyes, squinting as much as my body would allow. All I could see was mud and rocks and murky water. The murky water was all around me, but I could tell that the mud and the rocks were below me. I had a surface to push off of. Good. Than I made sure I wasn't loosing air. My lungs seemed to be doing ok, at least for a little while longer.

I started to test my muscles, it felt like a sharp icy pain shoot through me every time I tried to move, strangely, it wasn't helping keeping _me _icy. Forgetting the pain, my mind scolded me for getting side tracked. 'Alright, I hope this doesn't hurt.' I begged silently, even though I knew what was going to happen. I let myself fall deeper and deeper. When my foot touched something, I was already starting to get dizzy, but my lungs were somehow, still holding the air. It started to feel like I was being strangled. But I ignored that fleeting thought mildly. I skidded to an almost stop at the bottom of the river floor, the almost being the fact that the current, -even if it was slightly dulled under the surface- gently tugged at my new sneak suit and crash bracelets never letting me quite stop fully.

That was when I, -as Shay would had said- did and up and away. I coiled my muscles, locking then into place in a crouching stance. Than I pushed off as hard as I could. With my whole new muscle system, that was pretty hard. As soon as my feet lifted from the ground I started to paddle. A little faster than a doggie paddle, but still useful. That was when my mouth decided to give out.

At first just a few bubbles escaped my lips, but then all of the breath I had been holding in whooshed out from my lungs and I was gulping down murky, unfiltered water. I was filling both my stomach and my lungs with the disgusting river water when I started to grow more and more dizzy. Was I going to die? I was so close to the top, so close.

'Oh stop whining, come on, lets go, hop to! Paddle and kick, you are a special right?' My Ugly voice jeered.

'_I hate you.' _I rasped inwardly, somehow, from all of the commotion, my legs remembered their command and kicked and my arms paddled. My head barley broke he surface when I was pushed under by the current again. '_Oh no you don't.'_

I broke surface a second time, but this time, I was ready for the angry current that tried to gulp me under again. I started to hop up and down. I probably looked like a rabbit coming up from six inch deep snow. Pfft. But my hover board was going back and forth over the spot I had come up from. My somewhat, water proof crash bracelets pulled me up a little and my hover boar scooped me up the rest of the way.

I was panting heavily, gasping for more air like a fish who had just been out of water for ten minutes straight. It had only been five minutes since my little encounter with the other specials. Three hours since Shay had been eliminated and two hours and fifty minutes since I became a hunter. So all in all, I had a cool time line I could share with the other Cutters during story time! I spat water out for a couple of minutes before trying, -and failing- to get up. Once I did get up, however, my legs felt like the jelly-ish stuff the doctors put the Uglies in to make them pretty.

After retrieving my pack, shaking off a little bit, building a rough camp and checking if my feed had been fixed, -which it hadn't- I plopped down on my back and decided to take a break. I was probably pretty far from the city and I really didn't feel like going back to the other Cutters to explain how I had basically killed Shay by not watching her back. So I sprawled out on the dry desert land and talked to my little voice that lived in my head.

'_How am I going to find that bastard?' _I found myself asking. After a slight pause; my little Ugly me answered.

'Patience and cunning. It might take a while as well. But think about it, what would set him off so much he would have to come to you?'

It took some thinking, and seeing how my brain was so muddled and another cut wouldn't do any good. '_I'm not exactly sure, but did he plan on killing me too? He could have, when I was just sitting there, and he said I belonged where he was from, so I don't think he was trying to kill me.' _

'Ok, so he wants you alive, what would really get his hackles up? He doesn't want you dead, he may be close by, and he plans to take you back to where he came from if he does catch you or vise versa.' My voice puzzled over it all.

'_What if I die?' _I suggested, my voice was silent for a second before it answered slowly.

'That might not be the best idea Tally.' But my mind was already set, that was what specials did, they made a plan carried it out, and then waited for the after effects, we didn't have very long attention spans either!

I opened my busted feed to all unknown frequencies, and left my cheery message.

"You win, I'm joining Shay, you'll be able to find my body Northwest of the Rusty Ruins." My ping was sent and I started to shut down, it was like I was a machine and my brain was just going through my body and turning switches off one by one. 'Tally! No you idiot! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!' Finally everything went dark and I was -to an extend- dead.

*~*~*~*

There was an annoying beeping noise going through my head, almost seeming to echo in my brain. _Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . ._

And there was an overwhelming smell of hospital fluids and wet, bloody recyclable rags. It took a moment, but I slowly opened my eyes. I had to blink a couple of times to shake off the brightness. I tried to sit up, but my lower abdomen screamed in protest. I tried to look around but my neck was sore as well. I felt awful and kind of like I needed to throw up, but my natural instincts told me I was in grave danger and needed to get my stuff and get out!

I heard a sliding door opened and someone walk in, it wasn't the shuffle of an Ugly, the gallop of a Pretty or the silent predator like movements of another Special. I turned sharply, only slightly cringing at the pain. But who I saw, standing in the doorway was none other than one of my least favorite people. One of the people I planned to destroy.

"I see you're up, now, let's get down to business, what the hell are you Tally Youngblood?" Maddie asked in an icy voice.


End file.
